A more relaxed recording for the cast this week with the episode focussing it’s attention on the main cast and the story set on the ship. One code word seems to be “memories” …

A highlight outside of the story seemed to be Chris Barrie and Craig Charles joking about the 28th anniversary of the series:

Cassie Jones tells us:

Craig was joking about one of the scenes being like a séance.

Then he said: “28 years. What happened to my career?”

Then Chris pretended to go into trance and then said: “I’m not getting a response!”

Then Craig sighed and said “I should have done Robot Wars.”

This weeks reviews by Stephen Fletcher, Claire Payne and Ali Green

Stephen Fletcher

Was this episode focussed on a particular cast member or a team effort?

It was very much a team effort, focusing entirely on our core four with next to no guest stars. It becomes quite Rimmer and Kryten heavy in the second half, but Lister and Cat are still very much involved and the foursome end up dividing into interesting pairings.

What episode can you most compare it to?

I felt quite a bit of Dear Dave – but done right. It also evokes the claustrophic atmosphere of Series I and II and heavily evokes an episode from Series IV. But it would be potentially spoilery to say which one. The beginning of the episode also has a strong callback to a much beloved Series III episode.

Any stand out performances (from the cast)

It was a very heavy, ensemble-y show, so they were all on fine form. If forced to pick out just one cast member at gun point though, I would probably say Craig. For the simple fact that he flubbed the least out of the cast and was able to get laughs just by standing up. He also had to repeat that several times for retakes and never failed to get a laugh.

Any special guest stars or guest performances?

There was no guest cast on set. It was very much just our four Dwarfers and the only guest stars were voice overs. There was one voice that Red Dwarf fans will instantly recognize and I’m sure they will lose their shit once they hear it.

Any interesting smeg ups/technical problems?

There were really no technical problems, just smeg ups. Everything seem to run smoothly on the production side. I later found out that this was also the shortest recording they’ve had so far in XI & XII.

Most smeg ups were suprisingly foul-mouthed. Losing count of hearing your favourite characters utter the word “F***” when flubbing does change you. The most memorable smeg up for me is Craig hiding his face in mock shame after a mistake and shouting in great pain “28 years!” The following smeg up ended with him saying “I should’ve gone to Robot Wars!”

When Ray Peacock started introducing the cast at the beginning of the recording, Chris immediately greeted the audience with a Rimmer salute and seemed in good spirits. He did flub the most out of the cast, but he did have quite a few tongue twisters to deliver. Other than getting a little understandably frustrated after a few mistakes during a scene, he kept his energy high throughout the whole recording. Even treated us yet again to some Kenneth Williams at some point.

Anything that caught your attention?

The new costumes and looks for the characters (except Lister who remains largely the same from Series X) really stuck out to me and felt like such a step back from Series X. Kryten’s mask and costume especially looked cheap.

Will there be many special effects?

If I remember rightly, it was either Doug or Ray Peacock (the warm-up man) who made a point of saying there’d be no temp special effects tonight. The episode was really a very simple show. It wasn’t a very sci-fi heavy plot and a “bottle episode” taking place entirely on Red Dwarf.

Claire Payne

Was this episode focussed on a particular cast member or a team effort?

It was a team effort for most scenes although there were scenes with the cast members in 2’s also.

What episode can you most compare it to?

White hole.

Any stand out performances (from the cast)

Robert was in fine form. Seemed to enjoy having the audience there and interacted with us.
Danny also kept dancing. 🙂
Chris has some long and complicated lines.
Chris seemed fine…apart from fluffing up his lines a bit 🙂

Any special guest stars or guest performances?

Yes… voice overs. 🙂

Any interesting smeg ups/technical problems?

No I don’t recall any. Just fluffing of lines. Used candles in one scene which could have been a problem if many retakes were needed. Fortunately wasn’t a problem.

Anything that caught your attention?

The set is amazing! Really well done. The cast get into character very quickly and are professional as well as being funny and entertaining.

Will there be many special effects?

Probably not needed in the episode we saw.

Ali Green

Was this episode focused on a particular cast member or a team effort?

This was an ensemble piece, however later in the episode the crew are paired off where more focus is shifted to Rimmer and Kryten.

What episode can you most compare it to?

There are a number of nods to previous episodes and an unexpected inclusion. At one point I was concerned the episode was going down a similar route to Dear Dave but fortunately this turned out to not be the case!

Any stand out performances (from the cast)

All of the cast were on great form, comfortable and full of energy, laughing and joking throughout.

Chris seemed a lot more comfortable than in the other recent recording I attended (series XI episode 6). He was in high spirits joking about with the other cast members between takes and after smeg ups, he also managed a couple of Kenneth Williams impressions!

Any special guest stars or guest performances?

The only guest cast this episode were voice overs.

Any interesting smeg ups/technical problems?

There was a lot of smeg ups but recording still wrapped very early. There were some funny quotes from Craig after messing up his lines, one comical groan of “28 years!” and another “I could have done Robot Wars!”

Anything that caught your attention?

There was one scene where the dialogue almost completely mirrors that of an episode from series IV which some fans who aren’t keen on bringing back the past may have a problem with, but this is exactly how this needed to be for it to work, and it was very funny indeed.

Also I have to say that Kryten’s mask seemed really off, it looked almost lumpy in places and far too round and undefined, someone definitely needs to panel beat his head back in to shape in time for the next show!

Will there be many special effects?

Doug mentioned something about some bits that still need to be added, but I don’t think too many special effects will be needed.